What Do Hiring Managers Look for in Interviews - Career Sidekick

What Do Hiring Managers Look for in Interviews - Career Sidekick What Do Hiring Managers Look for in Interviews? Interview Preparation / https://www.edenscott.com/blog As a recruiter, a lot of job seekers ask me, what do hiring managers look for in an interview?In this article, Im going to reveal 5 hints for your interview with a hiring manager. These are the top 5 things hiring managers are looking for when they interview you.(No matter what industry youre in).You can watch the full list in video format below, or scroll down to read the article.Interview with a Hiring Manager: 5 Things They Look For1. Can you perform the job?Do you have the skills, experience, abilities needed to perform the job?If theres education or training required, thats included here too.Job requirements are often a bit flexible but the hiring manager is almost always looking for somebody who can step in and make a smooth transition, and start contributing relatively quickly.So its not just about whether your experience isadequate, but whether it has set you up for a high chance of success.Remember, companies want less risk less risk youll lea ve the job, less risk youll spend months training and learning and not produce any results, etc.To summarize: Companies want to see you that your skills and experience will allow you to hit the ground running and be successful in the job theyre offering relatively quickly.This last part isnt always the case; sometimes they just want a hungry, motivated person and theyre willing to be patient with them (particularly for entry-level jobs or younger job seekers). But in most cases, hiring managers look for how quickly you can learn the job.The best way to demonstrate this is talking about past work and past successes that are as closely-related to their job as possible. Thats something you should be spending a lot of time doing in your interview with the hiring manager.2. Do you want the job?Okay, so youve shownthem you can do the job. But you also need to show passion in your interview. Do you want to do this? Is it exciting to you?This tells the hiring manager how youll handle chall enges, what type of energy youll bring, and most importantly- how long youll stay in the job!Nobody wants to hire a person who will get bored at work, lose focus, or leave in 6 months, regardless of talent or experience!Hiring managers DO worry about somebody being over-qualified, and thats why. It takes a lot of time and effort to hire somebody, get them through orientation and familiar with how the company works, only to have them leave in 6 months.If you want to beat the competition and get hired faster, onething you should do in eachinterview is try to show a DESIRE for the specificjob youre discussing with the company, and put the companysmind at ease about any risk of leaving within the first year.3. Do you have the right attitude and motivation?This area relates to youroverall work characteristics, regardless of skills or experience and regardless of interest in this particular job.In general Do you seem motivated and driven? And by what?Often the hiring manager will ask dire ctly, what motivates you? what is the reason you get up every day and come to work?Its important to have a great answer to that. Get specific. Tell a story if you can!They want to know how youre going to respond when things get difficult.If you accept thisjob and it ends up being a rocky first couple of months where you struggle a bit, whats going to be your response?Again- they dont want you leaving in 6 months if things arent going perfectly to plan! Sometimes you join a company and its a struggle to get started. It happens to even the best workers and its definitely happened to me. But the hiring manager wants to know that youre going to come in and work hard to overcome it, not quit.Helping them understand the specific reasons that keep you going each and every day willput their mind at ease when it comes to this topic. Its okay to get personal too (example: Im passionate about the automotive safety industry because my father was badly injured in a car accident).4. Will your per sonality fit with the team?This is a huge component of what hiring managers look for in an interview, yet most job seekers dont realize.My suggestion is be authentic to who you are but also show that youre flexible and able to work with a variety of people.Dontbe too polarizing or extreme in the interview.Avoid words like always and never when describing your habits and personality.Example of what NOTto say:I never work well with type A personalitiesI always take the lead in groups that Im inIf you seem too extreme in any one direction, the hiring manager might become worried if your style is different than somebody else on the team.The company hasalready invested time and effort into their current team. The hiring manager doesnt want to lose that.But that doesnt mean you cant stand out and be memorable when it comes to showing passion and enthusiasm. Those are always great personality traits to show.The more excited you seem for the work that needs to be done, the more likely youll get hired.If a hiring manager interviews 20 different people for a job, how are you going stick out in his or her head? Showing high energy is one great way and increases the odds youll hear back sooner and wont have to follow up to get a response after your interview.5. How do you compare to the competition on these things?This is the final step that a hiring manager is looking at, but one of the most important things to look at.Lets say John is thefirst person to interview for a job. One day later, the hiring team meets with a second candidate, Beth.Theyre still going meet other people, but whats the first thing the hiring team is going to discuss after Beth leaves the room?Theyre going to talk about how they thought she compared to John. Thats the first question theyll ask each other.Theyre not deciding who to hire yet (most companies dont make a decision after meeting only 2 people), buttheyre already starting to take note of who stacked up better in which areas.So if you do a great job in the 5 sectionsabove, and the hiring team is already thinking about how your experience seems like itd help you learn this position quickly, or that you seemed like youd get along great with a variety of team members, or that youre very internally-motivated, its going to help you get hired faster, and for better jobs!Helpful Resources Before Your Interview with a Hiring ManagerIf you read the list above, you now know the top 5 things hiring managers look for in an interview.If you want more help preparing for your interview, here are some common questions you should practice:Top 14 interview questions and answers.And here are a couple of the most popular individual questions:Why should we hire you?Why did you leave your last position?Tell me about yourself?